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BlizzCon 2011: Blizzard Arcade Announced for StarCraft II

Amid all the hype and fervor surrounding the unveiling of WoW: Mists of Pandaria and Blizzard DOTA, it was easy to overlook some of smaller announcements emanating from this year's BlizzCon. One such announcement was the unveiling of "Blizzard Arcade", Blizzard's new modding marketplace for StarCraft II, which could actually revolutionize how mods are created and distributed.

Blizzard Arcade, formally known as Blizzard Marketplace, will be released with StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. The Arcade is basically a hub that enables StarCraft modders to share and (eventually) sell their creations. As the official BlizzCon website explains:

Allowing custom game makers to charge for their games will incentivize higher quality custom games, benefitting players and game creators.

And the #1 mod is... Blizzard DOTA! Well, that's not a surprise.

In addition to the Arcade, Blizzard will also release a huge suite of mod tools with enough power to allow the creation of total StarCraft II conversions. That means new units, buildings, textures... basically entirely new games using the StarCraft II engine. Moreover, Blizzard will also release a full cut-scene editor, meaning artistic-types can even direct their own StarCraft movies.

Spy Guy says: More power to the people! Blizzard needs to be congratulated for its unswerving commitment to the PC community. Also, what's the odds that the first total StarCraft II conversion will be a... drum roll... Warcraft mod? Strong chance, I'd say.